The Young Hoosier Book Award encourages Indiana students to read for fun. There are three levels of nominees: Picture Books (kindergarten-3rd grade), Intermediate (4th-6th grade), and Middle Grade (6th-8th grade).
Each year, teachers, students, parents and media specialists submit suggestions to the Young Hoosier Book Award committee through the Indiana Library Federation (ILF), who nominate twenty books in each category. Students read the books on the list and vote for their favorites. Votes are then tallied and the winning illustrator and authors are presented the award in the spring of the following year.
Acorn Was a Little Wild by Jen Arena
Cranky Chicken by Katherine Battersby
The Fastest Tortoise in Town by Howard Calvert
Flat Cat by Tara Lazar
Giraffe is Too Tall For This Book by D.K. Ryland
Heavy Metal Badger by Duncan Beddie
Hello Opportunity: The Story of Our Friend on Mars by Shaelyn McDaniel
How This Book Got Read by Margaret Chu Grenias
How to Make a Peanut Butter Sandwich in 17 Easy Steps by Bambi Edlund
Just Snow Already by Howard McWilliam
King Kong’s Cousin by Mark Teague
The King Penguin by Vanessa Roeder
Mr. S by Monica Arnaldo
No is All I Know by Chris Grabenstein
Our Pool by Lucy Roth Cummins
The Scariest Kitten in the World by Kate Messner
Simon and the Better Bone by Corey Tabor
Somebody Needs to Do Something About That Monster by Doug Cenko
Try a Bite, Trilobite by Jonathan Fenske
Twenty Questions by Mac Barnett
102 Days of Lying About Lauren by Maura Jortner
Animal Rescue Friends by Meika Hashimoto and Gina Loveless
Confessions of a Class Clown by Arianne Costner
Dogtown by Katherine Applegate
Duel by Jessica Bagley
Emma Just Medium: The Beach Dilemma by Laura Wiltse Prior
Ghosts, Toasts, and Other Hazards by Susan Tan
The Greatest Kid in the World by John David Anderson
Ice Cream Man: How Augustus Jackson Made a Sweet Treat by Glenda Armand and Kim Freeman
Jawbreaker by Christina Wyman
Maple’s Theory of Fun by Kate McMillan
My Head Has a Bellyache and More Nonsense by Chris Harris
On the Corner of Chocolate Avenue: How Milton Hershey Brought Chocolate to America by Tziporah Colten
Picture Puzzler: A Natural History Hide-and-Seek by Ksenia Bakhareva
A Seed in the Sun by Aida Salazar
Shelley Frankenstein: CowPiggy by Colleen Madden
Squished by Megan Wagner Lloyd
The Superteacher Project by Gordon Korman
Table Titans Club by Scott Kurtz
The Wild Journey of Juniper Berry by Chad Morris